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Yet, Americans speak a plethora of different languages, so your statement falls flat on the ground.
I have a Chinese supermarket across the street, an Indian one a block away and several Spanish/Mexican ones within 10 minutes driving distance, and that's in a predominately white neighborhood.
Americans speak all sorts of languages, but the majority either knows English or speaks it as their first language.
Did I say it was bad?
And most of the world doesn't, actually. People from underdeveloped countries certainly wants to, much of the time, but they generally also want to go to a plethora of other countries as well, anywhere with a better chance of a life outside of poverty.
John Cleese lived in the US for several years, and he summed the US up in one elegant line "USA has the absolute best and the absolute worst in the world, there's just more of the latter", I like that quote.
Those are immigrants who choose not to assimilate into the American way of life. Yet English does Unite us. Not Spanish or any other language.
It's actually been proven that it's better for kids to learn more than one language. Helps them intellectually.
It just seems, however, that people who are so idiotically stuck on the idea that "OMG AMERICA SPEAKS ENGLISH ANYTHING ELSE IS SO HORRIBLY WRONG" are actually willing to HOLD THEIR CHILDREN BACK because of idiotic political rhetoric.
In my mind, learning a second language should begin early. I'm talkin' like 1st or 2nd grade early. The earlier the better. And it should be mandatory. It doesn't have to be Spanish, but it SHOULD be some foreign language. My personal recommendations WOULD be Spanish, Mandarin, or French. Mandarin because it's one of the widest spoken languages, Spanish and French because it directly correlates to our neighbors.
Latin would also be fantastic, because it's used in just about every science there is, and will also be helpful in dissecting the origins of our own language.
But hey, I actually have my daughter's educational future in mind. Silly me.
The English language is in no real danger of becoming marginal in the United States. I live in one of the most Spanish speaking states, historically and presently, New Mexico, so I have a certain perspective on it.
The Spanish-speaking population that has resided here since Spanish colonization has not entirely lost their language to English but they are all good English speakers, most as a first language with Spanish being relegated to 'kitchen-Spanish'.
Meanwhile, Mexican immigrants do indeed find it difficult to transition to English, but their kids do, presumably from watching cartoons.
Finally, it is my opinion that White, European-Americans will become a marginal population here long before the English language sees the slightest threat of extinction.
It's actually been proven that it's better for kids to learn more than one language. Helps them intellectually.
It just seems, however, that people who are so idiotically stuck on the idea that "OMG AMERICA SPEAKS ENGLISH ANYTHING ELSE IS SO HORRIBLY WRONG" are actually willing to HOLD THEIR CHILDREN BACK because of idiotic political rhetoric.
In my mind, learning a second language should begin early. I'm talkin' like 1st or 2nd grade early. The earlier the better. And it should be mandatory. It doesn't have to be Spanish, but it SHOULD be some foreign language. My personal recommendations WOULD be Spanish, Mandarin, or French. Mandarin because it's one of the widest spoken languages, Spanish and French because it directly correlates to our neighbors.
Latin would also be fantastic, because it's used in just about every science there is, and will also be helpful in dissecting the origins of our own language.
But hey, I actually have my daughter's educational future in mind. Silly me.
Other languages are great so long as we have a common language. What I'm not getting is the push for one certain second language. What about those that speak Korean and English? The list goes on. We need one common language and it makes sense that it's English.
Now, if I want to watch Spanish on TV I have about 100 channels to choose from (or any other language). I prefer a disaster message going over the bull horn to be in one language. A disaster message in 400 languages could take 4 hours. This just to warn people to shut off their gas after an earthquake.
There are huge swaths of America that have had Spanish speaking populations for over 400 years. The English speakers in these areas have been present for less than 200 for the most part. Shoot, New Mexico has only been a full state since 1912.
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